Back to the Basics
by smilingbutbroken
Summary: Summer's here and the gang is finally reunited with May in Hollywood. Only problem? May's starring in the biggest romance film of the year with none other than Brendan Birch. Will her and Drew's relationship make it or break it? And when will Brianna be back? Whatever happens, this summer is going to be the most outrageous ever. Sequel to A New Way to Live. HIATUS. UNDER EDITING.
1. Chapter 1

_Look who's back after who knows how long? Yeah, sorry this took forever to upload but here is the first chapter of Back to the Basics! *Applause* Thanks to **theasianwonder** who chose this majestic title and motivating me to finish this! Also I'm giving a big thanks to everyone who helped ANWTL go out with a BANG. +20 reviews for the last chapter? Awesome! _

_You know what else is awesome? Marina and Jimmy are joining the gang too! Woot woot. Now, please, ENJOY THIS FIRST CHAPTER!_

* * *

"So, when are all your friends coming to visit?" My friend Marina asked me from the dressing room beside mine.

I grabbed a shirt off a hanger and pulled it over my head to try it on.

"Well Drew is coming in three days and the rest of my friends are coming in a little over a week or ten days to be exact but they're not all coming together unfortunately," I explained and stepped out of the dressing room at the same time as she did.

"Do you like these jeans?" She asked and spun in a little circle.

"Yes, they're adorable! How about this shirt?"

The sequins on the shirt sparkled in the light as I imitated Marina's spin.

"That's so cute, I love it!" She exclaimed.

We both turned to my navy-haired friend, Jimmy and gave him looks so he would tell us his opinion.

He took a break from throwing a rubber bouncy ball in the air.

"You both look fine," he answered after briefly looking at us and throwing the ball in the air again.

Marina and I sighed and turned on our heels to go back in our respective dressing rooms.

"Jimmy, you should have learned by now that's not what you tell a female when they're asking you for an opinion," Marina said smartly from her room.

I heard Jimmy groan and childishly say, "But you guys _always _drag me with you and each time you guys look good as always."

"Who looks good, me or Marina?" I snickered.

"May!" The two victims both exclaimed.

I stepped out of the dressing room back in my normal clothes and continued laughing.

"Sorry, sorry! It's just really entertaining to tease you guys," I said with an innocent smile.

All three of us walked up to the cashier and paid for our clothing.

Marina looked at me once we were out of the store.

"You know, once Drew gets here I will tease you two nonstop and see how you like it!" She exclaimed with a glowing smile.

I smirked at her. "When you meet the whole gang you'll see they already do more than enough teasing so I'm used to it."

I then added, "Besides, the teasing wouldn't be as bad if you guys were an official couple."

Both of their cheeks heated up and they diverted they're gazes from each other. Noticing their discomfort, I hooked my arms between each of theirs and started walking in the direction of a small café.

"Who's up for some coffee?" I suggested.

Jimmy's head snapped up and he was sporting a bright smile as he exclaimed, "Yes!"

Once we made our way to the café and got our drinks Marina and Jimmy were back to normal and I was teasing them again.

"Hey May, this is random but what's up with the whole Brendan thing?" Jimmy asked from our spot in the corner booth.

I'd informed the two about the offer and of course they knew about what happened in the past, who didn't? Jimmy said I should go for it since he's all for acting but Marina said I should think it over a little more. She was all for me starring in the film and all but she was still worried that something could and would happen.

"Brock, my mom and I decided that I should take it and we called them and told them it was official and I was doing it," I explained to my two friends.

"How do you think Brianna's going to react to it?" Marina asked me.

I sighed. "I have no idea. I haven't seen her since you know…" I trailed.

Marina and Jimmy have also been informed about the many incidents I had with Brianna when I was in Miami. Each of them pretty much had the same reaction. That is was immature and ridiculous for her to do that to me.

We were quiet for a couple second before Jimmy spoke up.

"Did you tell Drew?"

I crossed my arms on the table and rested my chin on them.

"No not yet. You guys are the only ones that know aside from Brock and my mom. Not even my dad knows so feel special," I told them.

"We already know we're special," Jimmy said jokingly.

Marina and I both chuckled at him.

"So, when are you going to tell him?" Marina continued.

A piece of hair flew in my eyes and I blew it out of my line of vision before answering her question.

"I have no idea but–"

The chiming of my phone interrupted me. I grabbed it out of my pocket and saw it was a text from Mom.

* * *

**To May**

**From Mom**

**Sent: 3.14**

**Dad's coming home in thirty minutes! Brock and I need you here so we can tell him about the movie. Be home soon please!**

* * *

"Well this is going to be fun," I commented and stood up with my drink in hand.

"What's up?" Jimmy asked.

"About to break the news of the movie roll to my Dad. Wish me luck and I love you both just in case I never return," I joked.

Marina giggled. "Come on, I think it's very thoughtful that your dad cares for you so much."

"Yeah, you're right," I agreed and smiled at Marina remembering that she didn't have the kind of family I had.

"Anyway, I'm out!" I waved goodbye to them as I exited through the door and began walking on the streets.

My house wasn't too far away, maybe a twenty minute walk at most, so I decided to walk even though I had no choice considering I'd been with Marina and Jimmy in his car.

While walking my thoughts drifted off to the movie once again and about telling Drew about it. I mean, he's my boyfriend and closest friend so shouldn't he know about it? Especially going with the fact that his girlfriend is making out with another guy in front of millions of people to watch. Oh geez, just _thinking_ of making out with Brendan for half of the movie made me guilty.

_Remember May, it's just acting_, I reminded myself.

Then again… would Drew think that?

Sighing, I cleared my mind of those thoughts and adjusted my sunglasses so I could walk the rest of the way home hopefully hidden from paparazzi. They were always out to snap whatever pictures they could and maybe they'd even mention the movie, though I don't think it's been announced.

Either way, I definitely do not want Drew or any of my friends to find out through a magazine or television show. That was definitely a no.

When my home came into my line of sight I slightly jogged the rest of the way just so I would be there when Dad got home from yet another business trip.

Dad didn't necessarily have to work considering I made more than enough money but he said since he was the man of the house there was no way his "little girl" was going to pay the bills.

"I'm home!" I announced like always as I walked through the glass door into my home I loved so much.

The black and white tile was shining and smelled of lemon and the chandelier was brightly lit above me.

"May, come in the kitchen!" Brock called.

I made my way into the kitchen; it seemed to always be our meeting spot.

The first thing I saw was Mom and Brock each sitting on a white cushioned stool surrounding our island in the kitchen. I plopped onto one next to them.

"What's up?" I asked the two of them.

"Dad's coming home from the airport and should be here soon so we just wanted you to be here so we could all tell him about the movie," Mom explained to me.

"Sounds cool," I said but then added, "You think Dad will get upset or anything?"

Brock spoke up.

"Not necessarily. All of us were mad about how Brendan will be your co-star and I'm sure Norman will be that way too but I think because you _want _to do it he'll support you," Brock said.

"Before Dad gets here though, Brock and I want to make sure you _really _want to do this and you're not just doing it to please us," Mom told me, her brows crinkling slightly.

I bit the bottom of my lip and thought for a second. I want to do this, right?

"Guys, I want to do this. It's not every day you get offered a movie role like this and I need to be grateful that I got it so yes, I'm doing it," I said, surprising myself at how sure I sounded.

Brock smiled at me.

"Well said."

Suddenly the sound of a door opening and feet running down the stairs traveled into the kitchen.

"Here's the big guy," Brock joked, his squinty eyes somehow looking even smaller as he laughed.

"Hey Dad!" Max's voice echoed through the hallway.

I got up from my seat and went to join Max and Dad in the entry way while Mom and Brock stayed in the kitchen.

"Dad!" I exclaimed when I reached them.

"Hey May," he greeted while smiling and reaching out to hug me.

I stood on my tiptoes since he was a great deal taller than me and full heartedly returned the hug.

"How've you been?" He asked me once he pulled away.

Max and I exchanged a glance and both nodded simultaneously.

"I've been great Dad! What do you say about us going to that restaurant you like so much?" I casually asked him, wrapping an arm around his torso.

Dad sighed at me and Max laughed at my not so discreet "sweet" voice.

"What do you want May?" Dad asked me.

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped slightly as I feigned innocence. I placed a hand over my heart and asked, "What ever could you mean?"

He sighed again and Max laughed more.

"Let's go to a walk to the kitchen Father," Max said and started walking to where Mom and Brock were.

I followed Max's lead and heard Dad following behind us.

"Nice to see you again, Norman," Brock greeted as the three of us entered.

"You too," Dad replied smiling. "Where's Caroline?" He asked.

"Over here!" Mom's voice came from upstairs and we all looked at her as she jogged down the stairs.

I looked at her curiously.

"Why were you up there? I thought you were in here with Brock?" I said unsurely.

"Oh I was just _preparing_," Mom said with a wink before heading over to sit next to Brock and motioning for Dad to sit on the other side of the counter.

"Oh, I get you," I replied coolly (or as cool as I could be) and sat down next to Dad.

Mom and I hadn't exactly told Dad about all of the plans. All he knew was that the girls were spending the summer with us… not the guys. He especially didn't know about Drew and how he was coming a week earlier.

"So, what are we discussing this time?" Dad wasted no time in asking.

Brock nodded at me to signal me to start talking.

"You see, big opportunities present themselves to people and they're so big that you just can't turn them down," I stalled.

Max slapped his hand to his forehead and dragged it down his face.

"Just get to the point!" He exclaimed.

"Alright, touchy," I mumbled, "Dad, I got an offer to star in a movie that's supposedly the biggest romance of the year and I took it. Mom, Brock and I decided I should do it. Even Max said I should," I said, gesturing to my brother who was standing off to the side.

Dad pursed his lips and didn't talk for a couple seconds.

"Why would I be angry? It's a good thing that presented itself to you," Dad finally said with a shrug.

"Actually, honey," Mom cut in, "The reason we thought you'd be mad is because her co-star for this film is Brendan Birch."

Dad pursed his lips again and stayed silent again but this time was quiet much longer.

Finally he breathed out and said, "I'm fine with it but if that guy lays a hand on my daughter when they're not filming, he's dead."

I had to laugh at that. Apparently so did everyone else.

Once the laughter settled down Brock decided to insert something.

"Trust me; we're all thinking the same thing."

"Besides, why would May do anything like that when she's got Drew?" Mom said excitedly and got that twinkle in her eyes that came right before she'd gush about me and Drew.

Blush burned my cheeks and I glanced at Dad quickly.

"Speaking of Drew, Norman let's go upstairs and talk, okay?" Mom suggested with a smile that was almost identical to mine.

Dad looked at Mom curiously but then sighed and followed her.

"Drew's so great, handsome and smart. That boy is something else and the way he looks at May…" Mom's voice disappeared as her and Dad vanished upstairs to most likely talk about my plans with Drew.

My guess was correct after about five minutes when I heard, "WHAT?"

* * *

"You got this, May," I told myself.

My finger was hovering over the track pad on my laptop and my cursor was right above the call button on Skype.

Drew was coming tomorrow but I couldn't wait any longer. What if there was a magazine in the airport? I couldn't risk that so I quickly tapped my finger on the track pad and noticed the flips my stomach was performing.

"May?" I heard Drew's voice ask worriedly from my headphones in my ears.

I opened my eyes that had closed and realized that I'd hidden my face with my eyes. I quickly removed them from my face and looked at the Drew on the screen.

"Good, I thought something happened," Drew breathed.

I snapped out of the slight panic and smiled reassuringly at the camera.

"No nothing bad happened but even if stuff happens sometimes and it seems bad it can still turn out to be good, right?" I asked nervously, my voice getting higher the more I talked.

I wanted to slap myself for acting like this was a big deal. Okay, it was but I still didn't need to make Drew freak out the day before he comes.

"Uh, sure. What's up with you? Are you so excited to see me tomorrow that you can't talk normally?" He teased with a small smirk twitching at the corner of his lips.

"You just can't say anything without a smirk, huh?" I asked him with a smirk of my own.

Drew pointed at the camera. "Look who's smirking."

"I know, I seriously need to stop letting you influence me," I stated and moved my hand to cover my mouth.

"Whatever you say," Drew joked.

I chuckled but then stopped and bit my lower lip.

"Drew, can I ask you a question?" I started. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to do it over video. It kind of is a big deal after all.

Drew's expression changed from teasing to curious.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"How much do you trust me?" I asked him still chewing on my lip.

"I would say a lot," Drew said giving me a weird look, "why?"

"Okay I absolutely _hate _telling you this over video but I can't even wait until tomorrow because there could be a small chance that you would find out from someone or something other than me and I would hate that because this is a big deal. It's not necessarily bad but not the best either… wait, maybe it is really good news… in a way?"

"May," Drew said, cutting off my rambling. "What is it?"

I took in a deep breath.

"I got a movie offer… but before you say anything you need to know four things. One; it's a romance movie. Two; it's supposedly the biggest film of the year. Three; my co-star is Brendan Birch. Four; I already took the role."

Silence filled the next couple minutes. The whole time I was taking serious interest in the "escape" key.

Finally Drew sighed and said my name. I looked at him.

"I'm not mad," he said.

My eyes widened slightly and relief filled my body.

"You're not?" I clarified.

Drew shrugged.

"Of course it sucks having your girlfriend kissing another guy but come on, you said it's the biggest movie of the year? I'd get mad at you if you didn't," he said trying to reassure me.

"Are you absolutely positively positive?" I asked still feeling guilty. If it was me and Drew was kissing another girl on screen, I'd be ripping my hair out.

Drew smiled crookedly at me.

"I'm absolutely positively positive," he answered.

I beamed at his figure on the screen and fell off my chair in relief just lying on the floor for a couple seconds until I heard Drew chuckling.

I peeped at him, lifting my head barely above the edge of the table and perked a brow.

"What are you laughing at?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes in a teasing way.

Drew smiled one of his genuine smiles that he usually only reserved for me and shook his head still slightly chuckling.

"I just miss you," he replied.

Smiling, I sat back in my chair and said, "Miss you too, can't wait for tomorrow."

* * *

Marina, Jimmy and I were sitting at the café we went to about a week ago and were chatting about the gang.

"On a scale of one to ten how excited are you to see Drew again?" Marina asked with a sly smile showing off her dimples.

Before I answered Jimmy said with a groan, "No more girl talk, please!"

I chuckled at his expense and Marina shook her head slowly laughing along with me.

"Sorry Jimmy, but you should know by now when two teenage girls are your best friends you'll have to listen and participate in girl talk on more than one occasion," Marina explained as Jimmy had a blank expression on his face.

Finally he sighed and turned to me with wide eyes.

"OMG May, how are you and Drew doing?!" He exclaimed with fake enthusiasm and turned to Marina, "What's the four-one-one girl?"

Marina and I stared at him with wide eyes before exploding in laughter and clutching our stomachs.

It was a good thing our table was in the back corner of the café or else people would probably think something was wrong with us.

"Please," I managed between my laughter, "_never_ do that again!"

"Trust me, I don't think I will," he assured me right before he erupted into laughter as well.

Once our laughter died down, Marina fanned her flushed face and wiped her teary eyes.

"That," she gestured to Jimmy, "was fantastic."

All Jimmy did was flash her his attractive smile and I watched noticing the tiniest amount of pink coloring her cheeks.

Marina cleared her throat and turned to look at me and ask, "When's Drew coming again?"

"His plane was around nine thirty so he should be here by two," I said and glanced at my watch. Eleven thirty. The day was going by quite slow.

"I can't wait to meet him!" Marina said and clapped her hands quietly, an excited expression on her face.

"Unfortunately, he acts too cool for everyone so he's not going to be that excited to meet you," I told her smirking a little.

Marina's expression didn't drop.

"I'll make him excited," she said reassuringly.

"Good luck," I laughed.

"Hey girls," Jimmy interrupted while staring at his phone, "I've got to run. I have to meet with my agent."

"Aw, Jimmy's leaving," I said with a small pout.

He chuckled and laid his hands on me and Marina's shoulders.

"I bid you farewell," he said to both of us in a joking manner.

Marina laughed and waved, "Bye Jimmy!"

Jimmy flashed a thumbs up at her and then walked out of the door making sure his sunglasses were on and his cap was covering part of his face.

"Didn't you forget something?" I asked Marina with my eyebrows raised.

"What?" She asked with a curious tone.

"To say, 'Oh Jimmy I love you!'"

"Shut up!"

* * *

I glanced at my watch for the umpteenth time and noticed it was only one o'clock. I should be heading out soon with Mom to pick Drew up from the airport.

My stomach flipped just thinking about seeing him again in person after so long.

Sighing happily, I shut my laptop and grabbed my phone and put it in the back pocket of my shorts. I opened my door and ran into someone.

Assuming it was Max, I kept on walking and asked, "Hey have you seen Mom?"

"Yeah, she's downstairs."

"Thanks–" I stopped mid-sentence and froze before turning around slowly.

When I did, though, I was surprised with what I saw.

"Drew?" I asked a little shocked.

"The one and only," he replied and flicked his hair in a way to tell me that yes, it was him.

"What?" I squealed happily and ran into his arms in a warm embrace. "Why are you here?"

"You don't want me here?" Drew teased, pulling back a little so we could look at each other.

I gave him a look. Not more than thirty seconds and he's already teasing me.

"You know what I mean," I sighed but then smiled again. It was hard not to.

"Of course. It was a surprise. I took an earlier flight to get here and Caroline picked me up about an hour ago. We planned it," he explained.

"Mom so would," I commented and snuggled into him more burying my face in his chest. How I'd missed being able to even smell him.

Drew responded by laying his chin on my head.

"Yeah, she would because she did."

I giggled and pulled back a bit so I could peck him on the lips. I didn't want to do anything _too _passionate. You never knew when Dad was here or where he was.

"PDA much?" Max said as he strolled passed us.

After the New Year Max finally got off of Drew's case and dropped the "overly-protective" brother role. That, I was very thankful for. Besides Max liked Drew and Drew liked Max. It was a win-win situation.

"Oh shut up," I told him but pulled away nonetheless and instead interlocked our hands.

"What's been going on with you?" Max asked Drew, completely ignoring me. I made a face.

Drew chuckled. "Nothing much other than the fact all my friends are idiots and it seems they have gotten even more idiotic without May around."

I laughed out loud. I could totally see all my friends running around like complete idiots and Misty bringing out her mallet even though she's grown out of that violent habit.

Max laughed as well but then perked an eyebrow in a teasing fashion and said, "Hey May, just to let you know Father Maple is downstairs with Mother Maple."

"When did he get here?" I asked with a blank look on my face.

Max smacked his hand to his forehead and rolled his eyes.

"You really are an idiot. He's been here all day."

"Really?" I asked while Drew and Max laughed at me.

"Yes really," Max stated and glanced at Drew, "but I guess you were too distracted, huh?"

Blood rushed to my cheeks and I quickly said, "Whatever little bro. Just go away, we'll be downstairs soon anyways."

"If you insist then I'll leave," Max said and walked away with his hands in his pockets.

"Why don't you just call Deni?" I yelled at him in an attempt to embarrass him.

It worked because Max turned around and yelled, "Shut up!" before he continued his way down the hallway.

"Deni?" Drew asked with an amused smirk on his face.

"Oh, I didn't tell you did I?" I asked myself. "She's Max's _friend_."

"I see," he said chuckling a bit.

There was a pause as we both stared into each other's eyes and then I wrapped my arms around his middle and hugged him. I had _really _missed Drew these past six months.

His arms were tight around me too and I tilted up my head to finally kiss him. I was about to when –

"May!" Mom called from downstairs.

I groaned and pulled away from Drew who was smiling down at me, his eyes shining with amusement.

"Yes?" I called back down.

"Why don't you and Drew come down?"

I groaned again.

"Of course Caroline," Drew answered.

"Sigh," I voiced aloud and hugged Drew again.

"Come here," Drew said and tipped my chin up with his index finger before planting a short kiss on my lips.

It wasn't much but it was still enough to send a chill of pleasure down my spine.

Drew chuckled as he pulled away. "That'll be enough to hold you over for now, right?"

"Jerk," I said and kissed him again though it was longer this time.

Finally, Drew was the one to pull away again.

"Come on, let's go downstairs."

"That excited to meet Dad, huh?" I joked as Drew tugged on my hand and descended down the stairs.

"Not sure if I should be or not," he replied and cracked a grin at me.

I laughed at him and we arrived in the kitchen where Mom was sitting flipping through some papers that probably had to do with the movie. I had no idea what the title was yet so I just called it _the movie_.

"Hey," I greeted her and walked to stand by her, Drew still holding onto my hand.

Mom's blue eyes flashed towards us and she smiled.

"It really is great having you here, Drew," Mom told him which she had probably announced numerous times.

"I'm glad to be with you guys for the summer," he said but didn't forget to throw in his charming smile. Suck up.

Though, I guess he wasn't really sucking up. He really did like Mom and Mom really liked him. Only God knows how many times she's talked to me about my _future _with Drew because apparently Mom already knows that Drew will keep me happy forever plus he'd be the "perfect son-in-law". Then, I would proceed to blush beet red and start stuttering about the fact at how we were "too young to even think about that" even though both Mom and I know that I want to marry Drew someday.

Hell, I've thought of what our children would look like… not like I'd ever admit that out loud though.

Bringing myself out of my thoughts I started listening to Mom and Drew and realized they were just talking as though they've been best friends for years. It was weird thinking that my boyfriend and Mom were so close but it also made me smile and my heart beat a little faster.

Suddenly I saw Dad walk into the kitchen and perk a brow at Mom and Drew.

While I was slightly nervous for their meeting I was also a little excited because being me, I'm thinking that it could be a little humorous. I know, I'm awful.

"Hey Daddy," I greeted him in my innocent voice and walked up to sling an arm over his shoulder albeit I was standing on my complete tippy toes and bending Dad over a little bit.

Mom and Drew both smirked at each other before walking over to us.

"This," Mom gestured to Drew, "is Drew but if you ever actually pay attention to what May is saying then you should know that."

I laughed into my hand and so did Drew except he covered his up with a cough. We both met each other's eyes and held back our laughter probably looking like two preschoolers laughing at an amateur prank they pulled.

"You know, Mom brings up a good point Father. Do you ever pay attention to anything I say?"

Dad gave me a blank stare before shrugging me off of him and playfully punching my shoulder.

"I've known you long enough to know when you're stalling." I pouted and he looked at Drew with a smirk on his face. "So, are you ready for the 'Father-meets-daughter's-boyfriend drill'?"

"Of course," Drew replied smoothly.

I perked a brow at both of them and went to stand by Mom.

"First question: why did you want to meet me?" Oh nice one Dad.

Drew shrugged his shoulders and said, "To show you that I respect you. I mean, don't you want to know who you're 'princess' is dating?"

Both of my eyebrows shot up and then I smiled. Point one for Drew, zero for Dad.

Dad pursed his lips and looked Drew up and down as if looking for a flaw in him. Nice try, Dad. I've tried to find them but trust me, there are none.

"How are you academically and what do you do outside of school?" Dad tried and I had to resist the urge to slap my hand to my forehead. Hadn't I told him that Drew was a straight-A student?

"I get A's in all of my classes and I'm one of the top students in my school along with three of mine and May's other friends," Drew answered not looking the least bit cocky or confident. Who knew he was good at acting too?

Drew with a score of two points, Dad still at zero.

"Outside of school," Drew continued, "I normally hang out with my friends, talk to May, and study."

"That means you make time for May every day, correct?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Drew said simply and glanced at me. I smiled at him and tried to control the damn blush on my cheeks.

"Last question: will you make May happy?" Dad asked, staring intently at Drew. This was the all or nothing question. The big one. The golden answer.

_You better get this right Drew_, I thought even though I knew that Drew would hit it on the dot.

"Of course. Some guys might be ashamed to say this but May is my life. I love her smile, her laugh, everything about her. If she wasn't happy then I'd get the person that hurt her and bash their head in a wall. Even if it was me," he admitted with a laugh, "So to answer your question, yeah of course I'll make her happy. We both make each other happy so as long as she's happy I'm happy and as long as I'm happy she is too."

This time, I couldn't fight the bright color on my cheeks.

"Drew, you're amazing as always," Mom said smiling brightly.

"May," Dad said to me though he was still looking at Drew. He turned to face me, his expression stern, but just as I thought the events were taking a turn for the worst suddenly a big smile appeared on his face. "I like this guy."

Exploding with laughter I smiled right back at him.

"I kind of knew you would," I said truthfully.

Dad perked a brow at me and I burst into another fit of giggles.

"Well, Drew, it was nice meeting you," Dad said and shook Drew's hand.

"Likewise," he replied and ran a hand through his hair. On the inside he had probably been freaking out when they were talking.

Dad looked him up and down again. "Even if I like you though, no funny business with my daughter."

"Dad!" I cried out and covered my face in embarrassment.

"Yes sir," Drew said and saluted to Dad.

Said man cracked a smile and then bid us farewell as him and Mom walked out of the room.

When Drew and I were alone I led him back up the stairs and we went into my bedroom where I sat on my red couch crisscrossed and facing him. He was in the same position as me.

"Nice job impressing the big guy," I complimented him.

Drew smiled in a crooked way. "Actually, when Caroline was driving me over here we were googling things to say when you meet you're girlfriend's dad."

I laughed out loud and threw a pillow at him.

"You're so bad!" I said in between my giggles.

"Hey, it was your mom's idea!" He laughed too but then added, "Though the part about your happiness part came from here," he tapped over his heart with his index finger.

"Aw, that's cute," I said sarcastically but still leaned in to give him a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Aw, I know I am," Drew said in the same tone and kissed me on the cheek as I'd done to him.

"Hey!" I exclaimed randomly.

Drew didn't even flinch. I guess he was used to my random outbursts.

"Yes, my dear?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes but then a bright smile took over my sarcastic expression.

"You need to meet Marina and Jimmy!"

"Right now?" Drew asked.

"Of course! I'll text them since they're probably together," I muttered the last part to myself with a knowing smirk.

"I just now got you to myself though," Drew pointed out.

"Marina really wants to meet you," I retorted.

Then I kissed him. It wasn't short but it wasn't long enough so where it turned out to be long if you know what I mean. It was more of those disgustingly sweet movie kisses where there's passion but not total make out passion.

When I pulled away I stroked his cheek once with my thumbed before letting my hand drop to his.

"That'll be enough to hold you over until later, right?" I teased him as he had done to me.

"You know, you should really stop letting me influence you," he said.

I nodded my head. "Should I? Yes. Will I? No."

Drew laughed while shaking his head and let me text Marina to see if they wanted to come over. They replied yes of course so we just sat on my bed waiting for them.

When the doorbell rang, Drew interrupted what I was saying and kissed me once more on the lips and smirked.

"Now I'm good until later."

I scoffed and threw a pillow at him.

Yes, things were definitely getting back to the basics.

* * *

_Bad endings to first chapters FTW XD Anyway, how was that? It took me forever so I hope you love it times one thousand! Please please please review and show this story as much love as you did with ANWTL! I'll be back as soon as I can to update:D _

_See you soon my lovlies!_

_~Stay dorky, dorkyreader_


	2. Chapter 2

_I'm back... finally. Let me say one thing. School is a biyatch. Aside from that, thank you so much for all the reviews I got! Twenty-one reviews and I think fifteen favorites? You guys rock my socks. I love all of you. I'm also sorry this took so long to get out but here it is! Back to the Basics chapter dos;) I'm not super duper happy with how it turned out but, eh, I promise chapter three will be much better. Okay, enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. *tear*_

* * *

Marina grabbed Drew by the shoulders and turned his body to the right just barely a centimeter. She then flashed her teal eyes on me and pushed me so that Drew and I were pressed against each other and side by side. Finally, she grabbed Drew's chin and looked him in the eyes before grabbing my face and looking me in the eyes.

She pursed her lips and looked at both of us.

"This," she nodded her head approvingly, "is good."

Jimmy chuckled from his spot in my red ceiling chair and threw a pillow at Marina.

"Please explain to all of us what you are doing."

Marina pouted at Jimmy and Drew whispered in my ear, "They got here three minutes ago and I already see why your friends with them. They're crazy just like us."

I stifled my laugh behind my hands but Marina heard it and looked at me with an arched brow. Finally she sighed exasperated as though she's been trying to teach kindergartners AP biology for the past three days. See what I'm saying? That's a highly improbable statement therefore you'd probably sigh. Like how Marina's doing right now. I'm thinking you're getting the point.

"I'm just looking to see if you guys look good together," Marina explained while giving me a 'duh' look.

"And the results?" Drew asked her with a tiny smirk playing on his features.

"Ninety-nine point nine percent," Marina answered happily.

"What about the other point one percent?" I asked.

"No one's perfect," she stated and winked.

Laughing I muttered under my breath, "Except for you and Jimmy."

Her and Jimmy's head's whipped around so they were looking me dead in the eye both of them shooting me 'I will end you' sort of looks.

I held my hands up in surrender and smiled. Marina smiled back and walked back up to Drew.

"Anyway, I'm Marina and sure, you may think I'm insane but I promise you I'm not," Marina explained while shaking Drew's hand over and over.

The thing about Marina was she had two totally different personalities. One of them being a calm, cool and collected side and she could also be the most serious and wise person you've ever met if she wanted to act that way. Her other personality though was kind of insane. Marina could fangirl over almost anything and _if _she wanted to she could be a huge flirt. Especially with Jimmy. Then again, it doesn't happen often.

Drew shook his head to flip his hair out of his eyes – a new habit of his that made me feel all fuzzy on the inside – and gave Marina his oh so charming smile of his, white teeth showing.

"I've seen crazy before so I'm prepared," he said with a slight chuckle.

Marina laughed too and nodded her head in approval.

"Anyway," Jimmy said from my chair that he was spinning in, "I'm Jimmy."

"And Jimmy is going to either become extremely nauseous or is going to get a beating because my chair will fall from my ceiling," I deadpanned and earned a sarcastic look from my navy-haired friend because he shrugged and continued spinning. I sighed and slowly shook my head.

"Jimmy will be Jimmy," he spoke in first person.

Marina laughed and then turned to look at Drew again.

"You know, you're not as bad as May said you were," she said.

Drew perked a brow and glanced at me. "Oh? And what did she say?"

Marina shot me a glance and smirked and I laughed and hid my face behind my hands.

"She said you're a cocky, egotistical, grass headed jerk who thinks he's cooler than everyone. But she also said some really good things about you. Little May here said that you are the most–" Marina didn't have time to finish her sentence because I jumped on top of her, blanket in hand, and trapped her inside of it. Her screams came out sounding muffled and the sounds of her laughs were blocked too.

I sat on top of her and looked at Jimmy and then Drew. Both of them were giving me blank looks.

"So… nice weather we're having, huh?"

"Yeah, it's actually pretty nice out," Jimmy answered seriously and then burst out laughing when he heard Marina's screams of him to stop joking and help her out of her predicament.

* * *

Drew and I both stood anxiously at the airport. Well I guess I was the anxious one as Drew was just standing there, hands in his pockets and leaning against the wall saying he was always with everyone so he wasn't too excited. At that, I had shook my head sadly and told him that I hadn't seen them in forever. At that, he reluctantly agreed that it was okay for me to be bouncing on the balls of my feet and having a goofy smile plastered on my face as I waited for three of my friends to come.

Why only three? Apparently Leaf, Ash and Gary were all coming together in a couple days because… well I'm not exactly sure why but oh well.

"I've missed everyone so much," I said behind my hands that covered my mouth that were trying to contain my excitement. Drew laughed and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me into him.

"They've missed you too," he chuckled, "especially Dawn… and me."

"Why of course _you_ would," I scoffed teasingly.

Drew and I waited for another thirty minutes until finally their flight arrived. I almost started running to them but Drew kept me walking which I was thankful for. I could get a little too excited sometimes.

Suddenly, my thoughts broke as I saw a petite girl with long navy hair that was braided down her back. It was Dawn looking as cute as usual in all of her five foot glory.

A huge smile broke across my face. "Dawn!" I exclaimed running away from Drew to hug my best friend.

"May? Oh my goodness, May!" she said in the same tone as me and hugged me back tightly. I laughed and pulled away just a little so we could see each other.

"I've missed you so freaking much!" I squealed and hugged her again. Dawn laughed and returned my hug just as excited as me.

"Ditto!"

I kept hugging her and laughing even though I knew that the paparazzi were here somewhere clicking away on their overly priced cameras.

After hugging nonstop for a couple minutes two new faces came into my line of sight. A red haired girl and a plum headed boy. They were each dragging luggage across the floor and looked like they were about to fall over.

"Really, Dawn? Leave us with all the luggage?" Misty asked and dropped the suitcases by her feet before turning to me and smiling brightly. "May!"

My smile mirrored the ginger's and we ran to each other and hugged it out just as I had done with Dawn. We pulled away after a couple seconds and I gave her a huge smile.

"I've missed you so much!" I exclaimed.

Misty laughed. "Trust me, I've miss you too. It's just not the same."

I laughed feeling extremely happy to be surrounded by three faces I haven't seen in forever. Speaking of three faces I turned to look at Paul with a smile on my face.

He rolled his eyes but then gestured for me to hug him. I giggled at his reluctance and gave him a hug before smiling at him again and stepping away to look at all three of them. At this point Drew had walked up to us and he stood next to me.

"Oh my God, I've missed you all so much," I said, my hands covering my flushed face from all the excitement.

"I didn't get a welcoming like this," Drew commented at my reaction and slipped an arm around my waist.

"Of course not," Misty scoffed, "I bet you guys weren't doing much talking at all."

My face flushed and I began to protest but Drew stopped me. "Ah, May, don't deny what's true."

"Drew!" My blush deepened and it was then I noticed all the people staring at what was happening. A little girl tugged on what looked to be her older sister's shirt.

"Is that May Maple?" she asked with an excited smile.

A small smile graced my lips and I motioned for Drew and the rest of my friends to stay put as I walked over to the little girl and the teenager.

"Hello there," I greeted. The older girl's eyes looked me over as if seeing if I was really me or not. "I heard you ask your sister if I was May Maple."

The small girl looked no older than six and she smiled at me. There was a big gap from where here front teeth should have been. "Are you?"

"Yes, in fact I am," I told her with another smile. I smiled at her sister and kneeled in front of the little girl. "Do you have a pen and paper?" I asked.

"Here," the older girl handed me a pen and a small heart shaped notebook with glitter covering it. I thanked her and then wrote a girl a short message and signed it 'Love, May Maple'".

I handed it to her and she laughed and jumped up and down. "Thank you!" she exclaimed and jumped on me to hug me. Her sister's eyes widened but I reassured her with a smile and hugged the girl back. When the girl pulled away I smiled once again at the both of them.

"It was very nice meeting you," I told both of them. "Goodbye!" I waved goodbye and walked back over to my boyfriend and three of my best friends.

"Well aren't you just the sweetest thing?" Dawn commented with a smile.

"Oh be quiet. I like to give back to my fans is all," I said and then looked around seeing more people staring at me.

"And a lot of fans you have," Paul pointed out seeing the crowd grow larger. My eyes widened.

"Though, as much as I love them I think we should get out of here before I get eaten by all of them," I whispered hurriedly.

"Eaten?" Misty whispered back.

I nodded my head and grabbed two bags. "Are we going or not?"

We were out of the airport five minutes later.

* * *

"And this is my house!" I announced to Dawn, Misty and Paul.

Dawn's jaw dropped as she stood on my driveway. Drew just shrugged and walked up to my porch having already been here for a week.

"Holy guacamole! It's huge!" Dawn exclaimed.

"No kidding," Misty added.

Paul whistled.

I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. "Yeah," I said. I didn't exactly _like _pointing out how much money I had.

"You guys want to come inside?" I asked them. They all nodded and I opened my door to reveal my entry way.

"It's even nicer on the inside!" Dawn gasped and looked around when suddenly Mom walked in.

"Mama Maple!" Both Misty and Dawn screamed excitedly and ran up to hug her.

The name "Mama Maple" had actually been made up by Gary – big shocker there – and it just kind of stuck. The only people that didn't call her that was me, Drew, and Paul. Paul stuck with Caroline like Drew and I just stuck with Mom but then again it would be weird calling her anything different.

After all three of them greeted each other Mom turned to me with a big smile on her face.

"I actually came in here to tell you something huge!"

"What is it?" I asked her and glanced at each of my friends' faces to see if they knew anything but they looked confused as I did. I then looked at Drew but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Well," she stalled, "I was originally supposed to tell you with Brock but it's just so exciting and I thought your friends would love to hear about it!"

"Is it really that big?" Dawn asked curiously, setting down her luggage and walking towards Mom. Paul, Misty and Drew also started listening more intently just as I was.

"You could say that," Mom sang happily.

"Please just tell me," I begged, growing more impatient and excited as time went by.

"Okay, okay! You, my dear, now have an interview with Lillian in two weeks!"

Dawn immediately squealed in excitement and grabbed me in a tight hug, Misty shortly following suit. When they both pulled away from me, Misty and Dawn joined hands with Mom and they all started cheering. All the while, I was standing there frozen, my eyes wide.

I had an interview with _the _Lillian on one of the most – wait, _the _most – popular shows out there? _Lillian Live _was a show with not only millions and millions of viewers but she only brought the biggest stars on there. Wait… biggest stars… the biggest… that meant that_ I_ was one of the big stars?

"Holy crap!" I exclaimed, finally realizing what was happening. "Are you kidding me?"

Mom shook her head and clasped her hands in front of her chest. "No way, you really are going to be on the show!"

Laughing I turned around and wrapped my arms around Drew's midsection and smiled up at him.

"I'm not entirely sure what's going on but congrats," he said and mirrored my smile.

"Nice," Paul said from his spot against the wall.

Drew let go of me to where he was only holding my waist and I smiled at Paul. "Thanks," I chuckled.

"Whoa, what's all the commotion about?" A new voice said. Whipping my head around I saw it was Marina and Jimmy, Jimmy being the one who had spoken.

They were both standing by door that led out of my kitchen, Marina with an arched brow and hand placed on her hip and Jimmy with his hands stuffed in his pockets and his goofy smile plastered on his face.

Jimmy walked up to Drew and threw an arm around his shoulder.

"Hey there, Drew," he greeted.

Marina rolled her eyes, a small laugh escaping her lips.

"Hey Drew," she said much more calmly and threw a tiny wave at him. He gave her a two finger salute and a smirk.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, realizing I had forgotten something important. "Guys, this is Marina and Jimmy."

"Oh so this is them. Nice to meet you," Misty greeted with her signature wink and smile.

"That," I gestured to Misty while looking at Marina and Jimmy, "is Misty."

The other two introductions went like that except Paul simply gave them a head nod and Dawn enthusiastically waved and shook both of their hands with so much force it looked like she was going to rip their arms off.

"Is this the chick that called me super smexy?" Jimmy asked, rubbing his neck while staring down at Dawn who was still madly shaking his hand.

"That's her," I chuckled.

Dawn laughed maniacally and Paul had to eventually grab Dawn by her shoulders and move her to stand against the wall with him.

"Paul, did Dawn's airplane pretzels get drugged or something?" Drew questioned sarcastically.

"Nope," he replied simply but was interrupted by the ebullient Dawn.

"Actually I had four energy drinks, two bags of gummy worms – sour –, one bag of gummy bears, and three packs of skittles!"

"Uh," everyone in the room muttered, unsure of what to say. Eventually, we all just left Dawn to do whatever it was that she did on a sugar high which in this case was take a one on one tour of the house with Mom.

"Anyway," Marina interrupted our current thoughts, "what was the fuss all about earlier?"

Smiling cheekily, I folded my hands behind my back and announced the news.

"WHAT?!" The two of them chorused and I was immediately swept up off the ground by Jimmy who grabbed me in a bear hug. When he set me on the ground I sent him a curious look.

"Haven't you been on the show before?" I asked. I was almost positive that he was.

Sheepishly, he scratched his temple. "Yeah I was on for that action movie I did last year but getting on is a huge deal! I can't believe you got on!"

"What's that supposed to mean exactly? You can't believe it, huh?" I asked, shooting him a death glare.

He immediately went to hide behind Marina though he had to crouch down quite a bit so she would conceal him.

"You're my shield okay?" Jimmy declared from behind her. She rolled her eyes and shrugged him off.

"Using a woman as a shield? What ever happened to chivalry?" Marina then turned her light eyes on me. "Congratulations May, this is huge!"

We both hugged and when she let go we heard Misty clear her throat. I looked towards her curiously.

"Um, what's the interview for anyway? It has to be something big and you haven't come out with a super popular single as of lately. I mean, down in Miami we've been literally stalking you since you left," Misty admitted with a laugh and shake of her head, her dark aqua eyes shining with humor.

Uh-oh… I couldn't tell her and Paul about the movie yet, could I? I was originally going to wait for the rest of the gang to get here but…

I glanced at Drew who made a gesture of keeping quiet by taking his hand and waving it in front of his neck so it looked like he was trying to saw it off… Weird simile there. Nodding, I turned back to Paul and Misty.

"Can I tell you guys when everyone else gets here? I mean, they're coming in a couple days so can you please wait until then?" I asked nicely making sure to have the puppy dog eyes going. They've yet to fail me.

Paul shrugged. "I don't care."

"Of course," Misty replied dryly earning her a roll of the eyes from Paul. She turned back to me. "I guess I don't care but you better tell us the second that they step foot in to this house."

"Sure thing," I laughed, Misty chuckling with me. "Wait quick question, did you guys take the back door or was it my window again?" I asked Marina and Jimmy, curious as to how they got in my house.

They were always doing things to catch me off guard. Whether it was "breaking" into my house through my bedroom window or suddenly dragging me off to the beach. Honestly, they were crazy but crazy was just fine with me.

"Back door," Jimmy answered.

"We knew that some of your friends were arriving and we didn't want to scare them off so soon," Marina added.

"Ha, scare _them _off? Please, tell me another joke," Drew said sarcastically. Marina narrowed her eyes and he did the same before they both cracked a smile at each other. I was actually really happy at how Drew was already friends with Marina and Jimmy. It made me glad that some of my best friends and my boyfriend got along so well.

"I'll tell you one," Jimmy volunteered, raising his hand halfway in the air.

"You're hilarious," I said blankly and then turned to Misty, "So, are you guys ready to get a tour of Los Angeles yet?"

* * *

The first place we went was Rodeo Drive. Yes, it wasn't in Los Angeles but it was less than a thirty minute drive so it counts… kind of.

We stayed there for at least two hours, just walking around and talking and getting to know each other. Or I guess you could say it was more of Misty, Dawn and Paul getting to know Marina and Jimmy. By the time we were out, you could say that they were all good friends.

After our little walk around the boutiques and whatnot we all hopped in two separate cars – the amount of our party was too big for just one – and then headed down to the beach where Marina, Jimmy and I always go. It was located in Malibu and just about a twenty minute walk from my house. Yes, I did say house. I have yet another house – but not as big as my other two – right on the coast in Malibu. I stay there a lot because of the extremely nice weather and gorgeous beaches.

"So, you have three houses?" Dawn asked me as all seven of us stood on the porch to my house.

"Yeah," I nodded sheepishly and unlocked the door. Marina and Jimmy strolled in with everyone else behind them.

The house was smaller than the home where I mostly live but that still didn't mean this one was small. Not even close. There were two floors. The first floor was what I always call the "main one". You know, the living room, kitchen, eating place, the works. The second floor had rooms like bathrooms, bedrooms, a "chill room", as I would call it, and a small recording studio where I liked to mess around.

The first place I showed everyone was the living room. The floors were black colored wood and there were two white couches along with a smaller black chair. Then there was a coffee table, side table, a lamp and a fireplace. Lastly there was a very large window that looked out on the beach and it had light blue curtains hanging down from it.

The rest of the first floor was like that pretty much: black floors, white furniture and dark wood tables or side tables. The house was very open and clean. I loved it.

Finally, I showed them upstairs which looked similar to downstairs except I had more colors going on upstairs. I couldn't help it, I love colors.

"Geez, May. I thought your house in Florida was amazing," Dawn said.

"Yeah, and then your house in LA," Misty added.

The two of them looked at each other and nodded. "But we like this one the best," they said at the same time.

I laughed. "Good to know because we'll probably be here a lot this summer."

"This summer is going to be great!" Marina inserted, going in between Dawn and Misty and slinging her arms over their shoulders.

Drew came up to me and pulled me into him. I smiled.

"Yeah, it will be."

* * *

It was around three o'clock in the morning. Everyone else had fallen asleep but I couldn't. Maybe it was the excitement of having three of my friends back or maybe it was the nervousness of starting my movie in one week… something I'd failed to tell my friends. Not only that but I could tell Drew hated the idea even if he insisted he didn't.

Getting up, I almost laughed out loud at the sight of Dawn, Misty and Marina. Dawn was lying across Misty's stomach and Marina was curled in a ball in the corner of the couch, as far away from them as possible.

Yesterday evening I'd called Mom and asked if we could stay at the beach house for tonight. She didn't have a problem with it except I did hear Dad in the background yelling, "There's no way my little girl is going to sleep in the same house as that boyfriend without supervision!" Mom had then laughed and hurriedly said, "Have fun sweetie and make sure you sleep in different rooms! Love you, mwah!" I'd laughed at that and the rest of the night was filled with laughter before the girls crashed in the living room and the guys fell asleep upstairs.

I yawned and went into the kitchen to get something to drink. Maybe I'd make hot chocolate. It always makes me tired.

In the kitchen I made the drink and then added some marshmallows. Perfect. I sat on one of the stools around the isle in the kitchen and slowly sipped the drink. I set it down and rested my cheek in the palm of my hand about to fall asleep at the counter.

Suddenly an arm wrapped around my waist and a hand covered my mouth to keep in the shriek that would have come through my mouth.

"Boo," Drew whispered in my ear. I'd recognize that voice anywhere even though the kitchen was almost pitch black.

I shifted in his arms and on the stool so that I was facing him.

"If you ever do that again I will kill you. You almost gave me a heart attack."

He chuckled slightly and brushed his lips against my forehead.

"What are you still doing up?" He asked as I leaned into him.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"Yeah, I guess so. You've got me there."

I laughed and closed my eyes, resting my forehead against his chest. Come to think of it I really was tired. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad falling asleep right here. Besides, I knew Drew didn't like the idea of me with Brendan so why bring up the movie?

"Honestly…" I began and bit my lip. "Honestly, I'm just stressed about this movie."

"Oh," Drew said sounding kind of shocked. I guess he wasn't expecting that. "What about it?"

"I'm just worried about it. But I guess it's normal for someone to be stressed about something this big," I began rambling. Now that I'd brought it up I wanted to end the conversation.

"Are you sure it's not about the fact that you have to do this with Brendan?" Drew asked rather bluntly.

I looked up at him and nodded.

"It's just acting though… right?" It seemed like even Drew needed reassurance here.

"Of course it is but the thing is I'm not an actor, Drew. Should I even be taking on a movie this big when someone much better suited than me could do it?"

Drew sighed and with the hand that he had been holding my cheek with this whole time, he slid it down so it could wrap around my waist like his other arm and pull me closer.

"They picked you to star in this for a reason. Don't back out of this now, especially if it's because of Brendan. We all know that if he does anything off screen he's dead," Drew joked though I could tell he was partially being serious.

I laughed. "You're actually a lot like my dad," I concluded.

"Oh really? Does that mean I get extra points?"

"Sure," I replied and yawned. I was exhausted from everything we'd done yesterday.

"You're tired," Drew stated.

"No, really?" I shot back with a smile.

"Dearest May, one day you will realize that your sarcastic remarks will never be as good as mine," he smiled right back at me.

I rolled my eyes but still wrapped my arms around his neck so I could hug him. Slowly, I lifted my head up to kiss him and when our lips met I melted. Go ahead and call me obsessed and cliché but whenever I would kiss Drew I just felt… happy. I guess I was so happy that I didn't notice the _ping! _of my phone coming from the counter.

* * *

Drew and I were at the airport once again. I was tired from staying up so late last night but that still didn't stop me from jumping up and down with excitement just as I'd done with Misty, Dawn and Paul came.

We decided that everyone else should stay at my house because we didn't want to draw too much attention.

I wondered how it was going. Both Mom and Dad were out and Max probably was too, probably getting all cozy with his almost girlfriend that pretty much was his girlfriend. If that statement even made sense.

Drew nudged my shoulder to snap me out of my thoughts and he nodded his head to gesture for me to look straight ahead.

The scene in front of my made a wide grins break across my face. There was Leaf and Gary fighting over who knows what – probably something stupid like who got to carry the luggage – and then Ash in the middle of them trying to shut them up. I giggled to myself and glanced at Drew before happily walking towards them, Drew right behind me. When I was right next to them, Ash saw me first and smiled hugely.

"Hey May! Long time no see, huh?" I nodded happily as Leaf's head whipped around.

"Huh? May? Where – oh May!"

Suddenly I was squeezed to death by Leaf and even though I was struggling with breathing I gladly hugged her back just as tight.

"Leaf! I've missed you," I said in her ear. She pulled back slightly, holding me arm's length away from her as she looked at me.

Leaf hadn't changed much. She still had her pretty face, slightly tanned skin, bright eyes and her long chocolate brown hair except now it was much longer – brushing slightly past her hips.

"Geez, it's been too long!" She laughed, dark green eyes twinkling and smile bright before hugging me again.

"I know," I laughed.

"Okay, okay, my turn," Gary butted in, grabbing me from Leaf's embrace and pulling me into his.

I smiled and hugged him tightly. "Did you keep my promise?" I asked him.

"Yeah, of course," he laughed.

"What promise?" Drew, Leaf and Ash asked.

We broke away from our hug though he kept an arm around my waist.

"May here told me that I still better be a pervert the next time she saw me," he explained with a smirk.

Leaf, Drew and Ash all groaned.

"That's why he's been such a damn pervert?" Leaf asked, dragging her hand down her face.

"Don't be shy, Leafy, we all know you love it," Gary nonchalantly and threw a wink at her.

Leaf's face turned a light shade of pink and she crossed her arms muttering, "Damn pervert". I laughed when suddenly I was grabbed from Gary and somehow ended up in Ash's arms. Geez, I was just getting tossed around wasn't I?

"I saw her first you know," Ash pointed out, childishly sticking his tongue out at Leaf and Gary. I laughed and returned the hug that he was giving me.

"Hey Ash," I laughed and then pulled away after a while of holding on to him.

"May?" Drew said suddenly.

I turned to face him.

"Hm?"

"People are crowding around… again."

"Oh."

Just like last time, we were out of there except this time we hit a new record. It only took us four minutes.

* * *

_There ya have it folks! I didn't know where to end it so I ended it like this! Also, this chapter was about a thousand words shorter than the last one but all my chapters will be around this length(a little over 5,000). So, how did you guys like it? Love it? Hate it? Eh, it's okay? Let me know by leaving a lovely review:) Seriously, your reviews make my day. I wasn't going to update for another week or so but you guys gave me inspiration! So thanks again! Also, could you check out my pole? That'd be great! Extra cookies for you if you do *starts baking cookies for voters and reviewers*_

_Oh, two quick questions! First, who did you think texted May during the CS moment? Second, what should the movie be based off of? Should it be a real movie or should I make it up? Let me know your thoughts:) _

_I'll see you lovelies later so stay dorky please:)_

_~dorkyreader_


	3. Chapter 3

_Aloha! I am back with a new chapter:D I'm so sorry I'm not updating frequently but I try to write as much as I can, I promise you that! This chapter is two thousand less than usual but I had to cut it off or else this would have been ten thousand words because next chapter is going to be a long one. You have that to look forward to! Enjoy this short but sort of important chapter!_

_Disclaimer: -_- No. I don't. _

* * *

They all stared at my wide eyed, not moving aside from Drew who was leaning against the wall and Jimmy and Marina who were in my kitchen getting food.

"Say something?" I squeaked.

"I'm trying to decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing," Leaf said breaking the silence. Everyone else nodded looking deep in thought.

"It's a good thing I promise!" I exclaimed quickly.

I know I'd already made my decision up about the movie but it wouldn't hurt to have my friends' support. I wanted them to be happy for me.

Suddenly Misty snapped her fingers and Dawn's mouth formed an 'O' in realization.

"_This_ is what the interview is about?" Misty asked.

About to nod I was interrupted by Ash, "What interview?"

Oh yeah, I forgot that the three newcomers had no idea about my interview. I quickly explained it to the people that didn't know.

"Holy shitballs! I don't watch those shows but even I know that this is a huge deal," Gary exclaimed from his spot on one of the couches.

I laughed at his enthusiasm as Leaf got up from her spot next to him and wrapped me up in a hug.

"I'm really happy for you, May! This is freaking huge!" She said with as much enthusiasm as Gary.

"Yeah, even if it's with Brendan…" Misty began.

"It's still a great opportunity," Dawn finished with an assuring smile.

My smile was just as big – maybe bigger – as I stared at all my friends. And what great friends they were.

* * *

It was around six in the evening and I had snuck up to my room as everyone else was enjoying dinner downstairs. Mom had ordered numerous pizzas and I could hear how good of a time they were having from my spot on my bed.

I smiled slightly, happy that everyone was having a good time but that smile drooped a bit when I glanced at a certain message on my phone for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

Two days ago when we were at the beach house I'd gotten a text around the time when Drew had found me in the kitchen when I couldn't sleep. How could I have missed that? Why would she text as such a random time?

Sighing, I bit the inside of my cheek and read it once again.

* * *

**To: May**

**From: Brianna -.-**

**Sent: 2.47 AM**

**Call me… We need to talk and meet up? Look… I'm... Well I'm sorry.**

* * *

I closed my eyes and felt a tear slide down one of my cheeks. Lifting a finger, I wiped it away and laughed at myself. Why should I be crying over her?

Wait, because she was my best friend – er, should I say ex best friend. She was the first and only person I trusted when I first got sucked into this obnoxious and spastic world of fame. I shouldn't be crying over something like this though. That was years ago when we were friends and I had amazing friends now that I loved with all my heart.

Still…

I took a deep breath and hit that little button in the corner of my screen.

"Hello?" She answered sounding out of breath.

"It's me." I knew that she would know who it was.

Shuffling was heard in the background and she came back on a couple seconds later, her breathing normal.

"What are you up to, Brianna?" I asked, trying to stop this from being awkward. Nice try, May, nice try. Sticker for effort.

"Just got finished with a workout. Got to keep in shape."

I laughed quietly. "Yeah."

More awkward silence.

"Meet me tomorrow at Corner Café?" That was the place that Marina, Jimmy and I loved so much.

I nodded my head although she couldn't see me. "Yeah, how about ten thirty?"

"Sounds good… I'll see you then?"

"Of course, bye."

I pressed the "end call" button and took a deep breath. That was probably one of the most awkward and nerve wracking things I had ever done.

"You're meeting up with her?" Drew suddenly asked.

Jumping slightly from the scare I turned around so that I could see him. The door was halfway open and he was leaning again the door post.

"What are you doing up here? I thought you were down with everyone else," I said, avoiding the question he just asked.

Already knowing what I was up to he came in all the way and shut the door behind him.

"I was but they were all wondering where you went and they told me to come up and check on you." He came and sat down on my bed next to me. His eyes fixed themselves on my face, trying to figure out what was going through my mind.

"Yeah, I am," I glanced up at Drew almost pleadingly, "she says she's sorry and that she wants to talk. I-I don't know why but I kind of miss her although she hasn't been exactly the nicest person these past few years…" I laughed, with a slight tone of bitterness.

Drew pursed his lips and stood up to walk across my room and to my desk where he picked up two picture frames. "I'm not going to decide for you but if you want to talk to her then do it. Maybe she's changed. It has been a little over six months now." I nodded in agreement. "But," he showed me the first frame, "whatever happens between you two you know that you have us."

Drew gave me the frame and I immediately smiled. It was the picture that Mom took my last day in Miami. Paul was standing on the end looking calm as usual but with a small smile on his face probably due to the fact that Dawn was standing next to him with a cheeky smile on her face and her eyes shut tight. Next to Dawn was Misty who had Leaf on her back, Leaf hugging Misty's neck and Misty holding her with one arm and with her free arm making a piece sign. On the other end I was laughing and Drew had an arm around my shoulders, him laughing too. Finally, Gary and Ash were lying in front of all of us both propped up by an elbow and then using their free hands they had their fingers in the shapes of guns pointing at the camera and they were both winking.

"And, you have me too." He handed me the other picture frame and my smile got wider if possible.

It was my absolute hands down favorite picture. Drew was standing behind me, arms wrapped around my stomach and his face was nuzzled in the crook of my neck but you could see the corner of his lips lifted in a smile. I on the other hand, was blushing madly but laughing with one hand on my cheek. I had to admit we looked really good even though I wasn't the most photogenic person out there and Drew's face was hidden.

"Drew, you are incredibly cheesy trying to be all sentimental with all these pictures and wise words." Drew immediately dropped the calm and wise act and busted out laughing, grabbing the two frames from my hands and putting them back on my desk.

"It's working though," he pointed out but then added, "And where have I heard that before? Me, cheesy? Psh."

I laughed, pushing myself off my bed and walking over to Drew with my hands on my hips. "Maybe because every time you try to be romantic or all smart and wise you, sir, become incredibly cheesy. Incredibly," I emphasized.

"Admit it, I'm charming," he said, another chuckle escaping his lips.

I stood on my toes and pecked his cheek before whispering in his ear, "Only slightly."

* * *

The red light turned green and I pressed my foot down on the gas pedal almost to my destination. It was ten twenty three and I had just left my house making sure Drew promised to cover for me. I didn't exactly want to tell everyone that I was meeting up with Brianna so soon. Knowing them, they'd probably jump to conclusion and come to my rescue even if I didn't need it. The thought made me smile of how protective and loving my friends were.

Finally, I pulled in front of the small café and parked my car before getting out, slightly ducking my head to hide my face.

The bell chimed when I opened the door and my eyes scanned the room looking for the burgundy haired girl. My eyes finally spotted her sitting in the corner where coincidentally Marina, Jimmy, and I always sat. She was tapping away on her Blackberry to notice me so I went in line to get a drink.

"The usual, Ms. Maple?" The middle aged man behind the counter asked. He was the owner of the café and was very kind always putting up with the three of us – Marina, Jimmy, and I – when we were loud and also never blowing our cover or making a fuss.

"Yes, please. Thanks." I flashed him a smile and waited for him to hand me my drink before paying him and making me way to the table Brianna was at where she still hadn't noticed me.

Her head snapped up when I sat down and her teal eyes met with my darker ones. "Hey," she said in a much quieter voice than I was used to coming from her.

"Hey," I said back before getting to the point, "What was it that you wanted to talk about with me?"

Brianna bit her lip and stared at her phone that was now on the table looking like she was debating with herself. I decided to take matters in my own hands and just apologize. I don't know what for but I was going to.

"Look Brianna–"

"I'm sorry," she blurted out and my eyes grew wide. I was shocked. Honestly. I know she's not a terrible person – okay maybe she was – but I still didn't expect her to say it so quickly.

"What?" I asked before I could stop myself and immediately slapped my hand over my mouth. That was rude.

"I'm so sorry May, I truly am. This past year I've been acting like a five year old and in all honesty a complete _bitch_. Looking back on it I can't believe I did all that stuff to you and your friends and your boyfriend… I made a complete fool of myself and I probably embarrassed you too. It's just… when I found out where you were and how you had the perfect boyfriend and a ton of best friends I felt anger. Pure anger." She stopped to glance at me and take a breath. I noticed her eyes were watery but mine were too. "You always got the happy ending. I know it wasn't your fault but you could have done _so much more_ when Brendan kissed you instead of just standing there!"

"Brianna," I began, wanting to explain to her again how I tried so hard to stop him.

"Please, let me talk, I need to vent and let it all out," she said with a held up hand before continuing, "Then, as you know, I not only lost Brendan but I lost you too even though I admit, it was my fault for pointing fingers and blowing it out of proportion. Next thing I know, you're the biggest star out there and I had to work my butt off to get my name just as big as yours and all of a sudden you go and just disappear off to do what you wanted so I had to see what you were up to and… Ugh, I was so angry but deep inside I knew it was jealousy which made me even more upset and I… I took it all out on you and now that you know all of this and how I know I'm a stupid bitch I just want to say… I'm _so _sorry May," she finished and wiped the few tears that leaked out with the back of her hand.

By now, I had let out a couple of my own tears and had to bite my lip to keep more from escaping. I was such a sap.

We sat in silence as I thought to myself. Should I forgive her? If I do, why should I? What gives her the right to waltz up to me and suppose that everything is going to be alright and go back to normal with an apology?

Finally, I knew what to say.

"Brianna, I forgive you."

Her eyes met mine and they looked confused as if she was asking why.

"I guess I can kind of understand where you're coming from but an apology can never make up what you put me through not only in Miami but the years before that too. My only friend left me in the dust for something that wasn't my fault," I explained. "Still, I forgive you."

Suddenly she got up and did something I never expected she would do. Brianna came up to me and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. I felt a couple of the tears running down her cheeks fall onto mine and I returned the hug full heartedly. When we pulled away I smiled at her and she mirrored my look.

I never though Brianna and I would smile again at each other. Ever.

"Brianna," I said, "even though I forgive you I don't think we could ever have that friendship we had before. After everything that happened I just…"

"I understand where you're coming from. Honestly, I don't think I'd be able to share that friendship with you again either," she stated with a shrug and a small laugh. I laughed along with her.

"How about this: friends. Not best friends, not enemies, just plain old friends," I suggested, sticking my arm out in front of me.

She glanced at my hand before smiling and locking hers with mine.

"Friends," she agreed.

* * *

At home the whole house was almost empty. Curious, I walked around the house trying to find someone but everyone was gone. The last place to check was my room.

I climbed up the staircase and opened my doors where I finally found some people.

"Hey there," Jimmy smiled at me.

"Greetings," Drew greeted with a smile of his own.

My eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion and I made my way towards the center of my room after throwing my car keys on my side table. "You guys seem a little bit too happy."

"And why is that something to be concerned about?" Jimmy said in a posh British accent, nose snootily sticking up in the air.

"My apologies," I laughed lightly and held my hands up, palms facing the two boys still sitting on my floor. "And if you don't mind me asking, where the heck is everyone?"

"Marina wanted to take them all on a little tour of LA," Drew said.

"Yep! But Drew and I wanted to stay here because we already know the city and there was no more room in the car," Jimmy added.

"Ah, I see," I answered, slightly chuckling at the fact that Jimmy sounded so upbeat.

I sat down next to them about to speak when I noticed Drew was staring at me intently along with Jimmy who was now much calmer.

"What? Why are you guys looking at me?" I asked and covered my face with my hands, peeking out between my fingers.

"Have you been crying?" Drew asked sounding concerned.

Oh. I get it. My eyes must still be a little red from when I was with Brianna. Only Drew knew I met up with Brianna but Jimmy was close enough that I didn't mind telling him about it.

"Now that you mention it…" I trailed off and I saw Drew tense up a bit. I was quick to reassure them. "It's not bad though! I promise!"

"You were crying from happiness? What happened that was so great?" Jimmy questioned curiously. I then explained to him that Brianna had texted me and I'd chosen to go meet up with her. "You actually decided to meet up with her after all the things she did to you?" He asked.

I folded my hands in front of me in a begging way. "Let me explain! Jimmy, you know that Brianna and I were the best of best friends and then when all that… stuff happened she ditched me but I couldn't help it that I was missing her. She was trying to do the right thing so I thought why not?"

"Oh, so I'm not good enough for you huh?" Jimmy asked but now he was joking with his arms crossed across his chest.

"Of course you are Jim. Kind of," I laughed and he put a hand over his heart as if he'd been shot there. That only made me laugh more.

"So, what happened?" Drew asked, steering us back on topic.

"Right, thanks for getting us back on topic," I smiled at him, "Nothing huge happened but she apologized and explained to me why she did everything. At the end of our talk we decided to be friends. Not best friends, not enemies, just friends," I explained, a small smile playing on my lips.

"Four for you May Maple, you go May Maple!" Jimmy teased me as he quoted a line from a very famous movie.

"That doesn't really make any sense, Jimmy," Drew chuckled.

Jimmy shook his head sadly. "Oh Drew, friend, pal, buddy, the world doesn't make sense either now does it?"

Drew and I both exchanged looks before we both busted out into a fit of laughter. Jimmy really knew how to make you smile.

Suddenly, I heard my phone make a noise notifying me that I got a new message.

* * *

**To May**

**From Brock**

**Sent: 11.37 AM**

**Just a reminder to you since you probably never know what's going on :D Reading through the script with the cast is tomorrow and you have your interview in two weeks. The movie has also been publicized so get ready for the rush that's heading your way kiddo.**

* * *

Crap, I had forgotten about that. Oh joy.

* * *

_Ugh I'm not very pleased with how this turned out -.- I hope you guys liked it at least. A couple things before I'm off. Check out my pole, i'm closing it soon! Also if you haven't checked out my new story it would mean the world to me if you did! It's called Anonymous Love with ORS and CS. Finally, I LOVE ALL OF YOU SO MUCH. You guys are the best. Thank you for reviewing, favoriting, and alerting, keep it up XD Love you all -3_

_~dorkyreader_


	4. Chapter 4

_I'm the worst author on the planet D: I'm SO sorry that I haven't been updating frequently but hopefully I'll start getting into the groove of things where I can update every other week or more. Cross your fingers that I'm not completely hopeless. Thanks for the awesome reviews/alerts/favorites. I love you all but I guess I should tell you something you don't know, haha:) Read the author's note at the end, I have a challenge for you!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Only the plot and my OCs:)_

* * *

I was nervous to say the least. Today was the first day of being on set even if we were only reading through the script and _maybe _doing one or two small scenes.

I woke up this morning at five A.M. with butterflies in my stomach and the urge to bite my lip every five seconds. Yes, I was freaking out more than I needed to but what was I supposed to do? I've never been in a movie, or acted, let alone dreamed of getting the lead role in one. Singing has always been my one and only dream.

With one last nervous glance in my bathroom mirror, I stepped out and walked to my closet where I pulled out a flowy blue tank top, white skinny jeans and black ballet flats. I pursed my lips and decided on pulling out a black cardigan with little bows on it as well. Might as well look a little bit classy. After changing, I looked at the clock and saw it was six so I decided to walk downstairs and get me some breakfast but when I got down there the nerves came back and suddenly I wasn't so hungry.

"Stop freaking out," Ash's voice came from behind me and I jumped and whirled around to be greeted with all my friends' faces, even Jimmy's and Marina's. Where did they come from?

"I-I'm not freaking out!" I protested. "Why're all you guys up?"

Misty put her hands on her hips and gave me an, "are you serious?" look. "Like we'd let out best friend go to her first day on set with no support," Misty said with her eyebrows raised like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Really?" I asked with a smile.

"Why of course," Gary scoffed.

"You guys are the best," I said.

"Don't need to tell us twice," Dawn joked while twirling her hair.

All my friends stayed and talked to me trying to calm my nerves until it was time to go.

"Good luck, May!" They all chorused and brought me into a giant group hug. The nerves were back and I hugged them trying to convince that I wasn't nervous. Luckily, they fell for it.

Drew, Jimmy and I walked out the door after my friends all wished me luck and said goodbye. I had invited both Drew and Jimmy for obvious reasons. One being that Drew was my support. He's my rock and he knows how to keep me relaxed. With him I felt confident. As for the second boy I was dragging along, Jimmy has been in the acting business since he was in diapers. Literally, he used to do _Huggies _diaper commercials when he was a kid. Not only that, but Jimmy and I had grown really close ever since I came back from Miami and I really wanted him to be there. Not saying I preferred him over all my other friends but I felt like he'd be the best choice for this.

"Thanks ya'll, love you!" I called to them as the three of us walked out of the front door and into Jimmy's car. He was driving me there and then coming back to pick me up after hanging with Drew and the other boys. I small smile pulled at my lips at the idea of Jimmy being just as good of friends with the guys as I was.

"You nervous?" Drew asked me with a slight smirk on his face as we got in the car, him getting shotgun since he had called it earlier.

"Yes, extremely. Terrified more like it, I guess? I feel like I'm going to throw up," I admitted, my voice sounding questioningly and higher in pitch. Oh, goodness.

Jimmy started driving and his eyes flickered to meet mine through the rearview mirror. "Aw, May, you'll be fine. They wouldn't have picked you if they didn't think you could do it."

"They'd never even seen me act though. I've never even seen me act!" I pointing out, bouncing my knee up and down nervously.

I heard Drew scoff and I could just imaging him rolling his striking green eyes. "Miracle, how long did you have me fooled that you were some normal Texan teenage girl and not a huge Hollywood Star? If that's not acting thing I don't know what is."

"Drew's got a point. That's probably why they're taking such a risk and giving you the role without and audition," Jimmy said and smiled, "just be happy and have fun, okay? Acting's great."

"Says one of the biggest actors ever," I laughed. He faked a scowl in my direction.

"What Jim and I are trying to say," Drew butted in, "is that you'll be great no matter what." He sent me his dazzling smile and I calmed down a little bit letting his words soak in.

"Okay, I'll trust you guys," I squeaked, "Friends don't lie… Right?"

Jimmy and Drew laughed. "Never," they said together.

The car ride went by too fast and soon we had pulled into the studio back parking lot. Suddenly, I didn't feel too good anymore and Drew's and Jimmy's words were erased from my mind.

"Guys, I can't do this," I mumbled while shaking my head. What did you expect? I've never acted once and all of a sudden I was a main character in the biggest film of the year?

Jimmy gave Drew and look and Drew then nodded. Jimmy got out of the car and walked off somewhere while Drew crawled out of his seat and into the back with me who was currently freaking out and on the verge of hyperventilating. What if they hated me? What if I was so terrible they all just collapsed on the ground and died? Okay, so that was going to happen… but still.

Drew cupped my face in his hands and stared straight in my eyes. Slowly, he stroked his thumb back and forth on my cheek trying to relax me. As always, his touch calmed me.

"May," he murmured and I pursed my lips, trying to avoid his gaze. "Look at me, babe."

"Drew, I'm nervous. I'm not an actor, don't make me do this, please," I begged, putting on my puppy dog eyes that always seemed to work; especially on Drew.

"Don't use those eyes against me, it's not going to work," he said, avoiding my gaze. After a couple seconds he said, "May," in a warning tone and then just covered my eyes with his hands.

"Drew," I mimicked and lightly slapped his hands away from my face.

"Listen to me for a second. You'll do great because I know you can. And if Drew Hayden says that you can do it then you sure as hell know you can," he said with a wink and a flip to his hair.

I laughed and ran my fingers through his uniquely colored locks. "You promise me I'll do fine? You have to really promise me."

"Promise," he said and kissed my forehead.

I took a shaky breath and nodded.

"Okay… I trust you."

"Of course," he smiled, "now let's go."

He opened the door and we both got out. Drew grabbed my hand in his and we entwined our fingers together as Jimmy approached us.

"You got her to calm down a bit?" He asked Drew with a wink that made me blush and grip Drew's hand a little tighter. He didn't seem to mind.

Drew chuckled. "Yeah, all we need to be worried about is that she'll take off running in the middle of it."

Jimmy laughed while I stood there and pouted childishly.

"Hey, May, guess what?" Jimmy asked.

"Hm?"

"Time to go in."

"Kill me now," I groaned and swallowed the lump in by through. I then turned to face my boyfriend and one of my best friends. "Okay… can I go in alone though? I need to do this by myself."

"You promise you won't run away? Now you have to really promise me," Drew teased but was eyeing me carefully at the same time.

I rolled my eyes. "I promise."

"Okay, good," he smiled and pulled me in a hug. "You'll be amazing and we'll be here in no time to pick you up, okay? I love you," he whispered in my ear and kissed my temple.

"Love you too," I whispered back and then he released me so I could go into Jimmy's open arms.

He wrapped me up in a bear hug with a huge smile on his face and rubbed my back reassuringly. "Good luck and don't fall on your face being your oh so klutzy self," he joked.

"You mean oh so sexy self? Anyway, Jim, that's not helping," I said sarcastically trying to sound sour but ended up laughing instead.

"Have fun," Drew winked at me and flipped his shaggy fringe out of his eyes.

"_BUENO SUERTE_!" Jimmy called out in Spanish and I laughed, turning around and walking into the studio.

It was nice inside with a beige themed lobby. The receptionist looked up and smiled at me.

"Ah, hello Ms. Maple, how are you?"

"I'm great," I paused to read her nametag placed on her desk, "Kelly. And you?"

"I'm doing great, thank you. Are you ready for the reason and some run-throughs of some scenes?"

"As ready as I can be," I chuckled nervously and Kelly just laughed, directing me to the room where I'd be working in. Kelly seemed like a sweet little woman.

When I arrived in the room there weren't as many people as I thought there would be. In fact, there were only three. I saw Brendan who was obviously the other main character and two people that anyone would recognize anywhere. After all it was another famous actress and the biggest director of all time.

"Ah, May!" A man around his thirties greeted me enthusiastically.

"Harley!" I exclaimed just as excited. Everyone knew him; he was _the _biggest director around. He was so big and well known that even if you had no idea what the movie was about or who was in it, you would know it would be huge just because Harley was directing it.

Harley pulled me into a hug and then pulled back, holding me at arm's length. Suddenly, all my nerves were gone.

"You're even more gorgeous in person, hon! _How _have we not met before? Ah, anyway, I'm so excited to work with you! Speaking of which, here are the two people that are going to be here today because we're only reading scenes with these two people in it. Some of the cast were unable to attend so we're just running stuff with the three of my shining stars!" Harley explained without taking a breath. All I did was nod. I felt like that was all I was capable of after hearing him talk so fast with lots of excitement.

"Harley, I think you're scaring her."

I turned my head slightly only to see Brendan slightly smiling at me with his hands in his pockets. "Hey there, Maple."

"Oh yes, you're already acquainted with Brendan, correct?" Harley asked, ignoring Brendan's earlier remark.

"Yeah, we've known each other since we were about eight," he answered before I could.

"Interesting," Harley said mischievously.

"I'm Jayda by the way," the last person in the room announced to me.

I turned to face another one of Hollywood's biggest names. Jayda Williams. She'd only been in the acting business for a year or two but she really made an impression considering everyone knew her name. Jayda had dirty blonde hair that fell to her waist in waves. She had dark jade colored eyes – where I'm guessing she got her name from – and an obviously crooked nose. If I'm correct from what I've read in magazines, she'd broken her nose from getting in a fight at school when she was younger. There was a sort of edgy aura to Jayda as well.

"Yeah, I know who you are. I'm May," I said with a small laugh.

"As I know who you are as well," she replied with a smirk. "I'm playing Meg by the way."

"My best friend is an extremely well known celebrity. Awesome," I said, making Jayda laugh.

Jayda was my character's, Quinn's, best friend. Brendan was playing Lee who is Quinn's love interest.

Harley clapped, grabbing all of our attention. "Okay, let's get started! We'll start with the scene where Quinn talks to Meg about her newfound crush. Now, don't worry about blocking, just act natural and read through the scene!"

Jayda and I stood up in the center of the room with scripts in our hands. I'd read through the script many times so I partially remembered some of the lines.

"Lights, camera, action!" Harry called even though there were no lights nor cameras.

I got into my character and ran a hand through my brunette waves. "I don't know what to do, Meg! Now that I know who he is I can't like him! If I thought he was bad first then now he's worse than a freaking invasion of space monkeys."

"Who says you have to listen to your parents? They can't control who you like just because they're millionaires," Jayda – "Meg" – said with a shrug.

"No one said it but…"

"Butts are for sitting. Talk to me, hon, what are your feelings towards Lee? We'll then decide if he's worth it or not."

I smiled softly and stared at the ground. "He's cute, smart and a badass which is honestly freaking hot. He's sarcastic and makes me laugh but I hate him at the same time because he's annoying and mean and a jerk… But my heart races when I see him and…"

"There's your answer," Jayda said with a smirk.

"Girls," Harley stopped the scene and we looked at him. Oh crap, what if he hated it? I knew I sucked. "That was… Amazing! You work so well together!"

Relief flooded over me and I smiled at Jayda and she was wearing a smile that mirrored mine. Maybe I will be good at this.

"Not too shabby, I see?" Jayda teased.

"Guess not." I smiled to myself and clapped excitedly resulting in the three people in the room to laugh at me.

We ran through a couple more scenes and read through some stuff and an hour had passed when Jayda was leaving so Brendan and I could work on a few of our scenes together.

"Bye Brendan and Harley," Jayda waved, picking up her bag and slipping on her combat boots which she had taken off during reading. She then turned to face me before she walked out. "See you later, May. We'll be great friends after this." With that, she left.

"Now that Jayda has left, are you two ready to work on some of your scenes?" Harley asked. I glanced at Brendan and then nodded.

We were going to run through a short scene but it was one of the more intimate scenes. Harley said it was to see if we could work well together and pass it off like we were lovers but that didn't make me feel any better about acting like this with Brendan.

"Stop looking so nervous, it's acting remember?" Brendan reminded.

I rolled my eyes at him. "I know but still… I don't know how to act… _Cute _with someone."

"Pretend like I'm Drew or something, I don't know. Just go with your instinct and act natural. It's not as hard as your making it out to be, trust me," he said.

Well sorry Brendan, but it's kind of hard to trust you after what you did. Not only that but Brendan was nothing like Drew. I loved Drew and he was my everything and I couldn't even _pretend _Brendan was that.

"Okay," I said anyway.

Soon Harley had us starting the scene. "Now we still have no blocking as it's our first day but do what feels natural. What feels right," Harley commanded. "Action!" He said while taking a seat.

"I-I can't. I have to go," I muttered and turned away but Brendan grabbed my wrist.

"Quinn… Please tell me something, and answer honestly." Brendan turned me around and cupped the side of my face with his hand. His touch felt nothing like Drew's, it was foreign. "Tell me you don't love me."

I opened my mouth but made no sound come out. Finally, I shook my head out of his hold and whispered, "I can't do that," trying to make it sound as real as possible. Oh God, what if I was awful and I was just making a fool of myself?

"So you love me."

I nodded and felt Brendan lean his forehead against mine, our noses touching and his lips getting closer to mine.

"Good, because I love you too."

And with that, he kissed me.

* * *

Outside I was greeted by Drew and Jimmy again. They both saw me and smiled. I smiled back and got in the car. When I was in, Jimmy turned around and gave me a cheeky grin.

"So… How was it?"

"It surprisingly wasn't as bad as I though. Harley said he loved me," I said purposely avoiding anything about Brendan. Yes, I know it was acting but still, I felt guilty kissing someone else other than Drew.

Geez, May, get a hold of yourself. It was _acting_!As in, written down on a _script_ meaning _you had no choice_! You did nothing wrong.

"I told you you'd do great," Drew smirked.

"I know," I looked at the ground. Even though nothing happened, Drew still had a right to know… right?

The rest of the car ride we talked about what I did and the boys were busy praising me. I felt pretty good and when we pulled up into the driveway I asked Jimmy if he could keep the other inside as I talked to Drew.

"Sure thing," he said with a smirk and left.

Drew got out of the car as did I and he grabbed my hips and pulled me into him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and played with his hair. He smirked at me and I bit my lip.

"You want to talk?" He asked finally. I blushed at the realization that I was so caught up in him that I forgot to talk. Drew's smirk widened at my blush and he rested his hand on my cheek. Drew, stop killing me with your cuteness!

"Yeah, it's not anything bad or anything but I just think you have a right to know what happens at rehearsals and what scenes I do with Brendan and what happens…"

I could feel Drew stiffen a little bit and his hand dropped from my face to my waist.

"Sounds fair," he hummed thoughtfully, "so, did anything happen then?"

"We had to read the scene where we declare our love for each other and whatnot." I diverted my eyes away from his. "Um… we kissed too."

That time Drew stiffened to the point where he was a statue almost.

"And how was it?" He asked and I could tell he was trying to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal.

"Weird," he relaxed, "Brendan told me to calm down and pretend it was you but, God, I couldn't. No one can ever make me feel the way you do," I said sincerely.

Drew pulled me in for a hug and I buried my face in his neck, breathing in his scent.

"It's just acting, May," Drew whispered to me but I felt he was reassuring himself as well.

"I know." I squeezed him tighter before pulling back and giving him a small peck on the lips.

"You know what I realized?" He asked me suddenly.

"What?"

"I've never taken you on a proper date."

My cheeks flushed a nice shade of red and I bit my lip, looking down at my shoes feeling embarrassed. I felt his fingers grab my chin and pull my head up so he could look me in the eyes.

"I don't see why you're blushing," he mused, "you're so cute."

My blush deepened but he only chuckled at me.

"You don't have to, Drew… Besides, with the paps around you never know what'll happen if they get a picture of us. We're not public yet."

Drew thought for a second. "I'll come up with something then. Just me and you, okay?"

I nodded still blushing. "Okay."

Drew pulled me into him once more and placed a kiss on my cheek. "Love you."

"I love you too," I giggled. It was crazy how much I acted like a giddy schoolgirl with her first crush whenever I was around Drew.

"As much as I want to stay here being all PDA like, I think the others are getting restless," Drew said, gesturing to my front door where Jimmy was trying to hold off about eight people if not more.

I laughed, "Seems like it to me."

He kissed me once more before we walked towards the door where I got attacked into a giant group hug.

"May!"

"What happened?"

"Did you like it?"

"Was there a food table?"

"Did you do okay?"

"She was probably awkward."

"Paul, don't say that!"

"No, Dawn, I think Paul has a point."

"Watch it Gary!"

"Ow, Leaf!"

"Ha, nice one!"

"Guys, I haven't asked May a question yet!"

"Children, children, calm down."

"Can it, Jim, you already know what happened."

"Aw, you and Marina are so cute!"

"Hello! Chill!" I laughed from the center of the hug, cracking up at all the random questions and the craziness of my friends. "Yes, I liked it, there was a food table, I guess I did, no I was not awkward… maybe a little, Gary and Paul you're so mean to me, thank you Leaf, it was a nice punch wasn't it Misty, Marina you can ask me in a bit, Jimmy seriously can it, true that Marina, I know right Dawn? They _are _cute! Did I miss anything?"

"I don't think you did," Leaf laughed.

"Impressive," Gary observed, holding his hand up for a high five.

"I'm not giving you a high five, you're mean." He pouted at me and I gave in with a smile. "Fine," I said and slapped his hand, earning a bright smile from him.

"Move out of the way, kids! Big agent Brock coming through!"

Everyone chuckled and rolled their eyes but moved out of the way anyway. Over the last week that everyone has been here they've all grown to really like Brock as well as Dad and my stylist, Solidad, too.

When Brock was in front of me he smiled and pulled me into a hug. "Sorry I couldn't be there with you today and Caroline says she's sorry she's not home today."

"It's okay," I reassured him as he pulled away.

"How was it?"

"A lot better than I thought it would be, I'm telling you that right now," I laughed.

"What was everyone telling you? We knew you were going to be great, you're just too stubborn," he said in an "I-told-you-so" manner.

"Yeah, yeah," I waved him off with a slight smirk on my face.

"Hey, but now that you've got your first reading out of the way you have your interview on _Lillian Live _to look forward to," Brock reminded me.

"She'll definitely be awkward on that," Gary spoke and Paul nodded in agreement, both getting punched in the arms by their girlfriends and earning laughs from the rest of the people outside.

* * *

"Don't go in there! How stupid are you! Man, this pisses me off," Misty groaned as we were watching an old horror film in the empty house.

It was past midnight and all ten of us had decided to hang out and watch movies because honestly, since everyone has arrived I've been too busy with stuff to actually hang out with them. It was nice though, I had really missed my friends. They were practically my family. Plus, they all loved Jimmy and Marina too.

"I'm with you there," Jimmy agreed with Misty, giving her a high five.

"How are you guys not hiding under a blanket like I am?" Leaf asked from her spot in Gary's lap with a blanket wrapped so tightly around her she resembled a cocoon.

"Aw, Leafy, I'll protect you from the creepy masked murderer," Gary cooed at the exact same moment a hatchet came down on someone's neck resulting in Leaf screaming and ducking further in his chest. How cute. A leafy oak moment right there.

"Leaf, this isn't even scary. It's so cheesy," Ash said, throwing a piece of popcorn at my flat screen.

Dawn hummed thoughtfully. "You know, I wouldn't peg Leaf as the type to get scared over a horror movie. Even I'm not creeped out. And that's saying something."

"Oh no, you should have seen Leaf when we were younger and used to sneak behind out parents' backs and watch scary movies now that was bad."

"Can it, Ketchum," Leaf muttered.

"Aw, stop picking on Leaf," Marina laughed from her spot on the couch where she was braiding my hair because apparently she was bored with the movie.

"Um, is anyone even watching this anymore is it just me?" Drew asked randomly, his eyes glued to the screen.

"Just you Drewy Bear," Paul said sarcastically. Drew glared at him before turning his attention back to the movie.

"Technically Jimmy and Mist are still watching it," I pointed out, glancing at the two teens who were practically yelling at the characters on the TV for being so stupid.

"If you count that as watching then sure," Dawn said with a shrug of her shoulders.

Suddenly we all heard a thud and we turned out attention to in front of the TV where Misty and Jimmy were both sprawled out on the floor.

"My God, those people are so _stupid_," Jimmy whined and Misty nodded in agreement.

The other eight of us stared at them blankly until Marina spoke up, pausing her braiding, "Yeah, next time let's watch a comedy."

"I'm with you on that," Leaf shot up from Gary's lap and rolled across the floor until she was completely blanket free. I giggled at her.

"Ugh, I'm tired," Misty announced and rolled over on her stomach, propping her chin up with one hand cupped on the side of her face.

Ash took a break from making up a handshake with Drew to glance at her. "Mist, you were just jumping around and yelling at the TV."

"Your point?"

"Apparently I don't have one."

"Apparently so."

I laughed as Marina kept braiding my hair until finally I could feel her secure it with an elastic and let go of it so it laid down my back. I ran my finger over it and felt a waterfall braid braided into a regular braid. I always wondered how Marina was so good at hair. I guess she just had magical powers.

Marina shifted on the couch so she was sitting next to me with her knees drawn up to her chest and I was leaning on her shoulder. I was getting tired.

"You know, I really like your friends. I'm glad you can have other people outside of Hollywood that you can be close to. Especially Drew," Marina said quietly to me.

I surveyed the room and saw all my friends being crazy and stupid and downright hilarious. I smiled and lifted my head off my shoulder to look at her.

"You know, they're your friends too."

"Then I guess we both have amazing friends."

"Yeah, we do."

"Hey, I guess that's a good thing though. I know you for sure are going to have an _insane _summer so it's good to have people around," Marina pointed out.

"I know! This summer is going to be so busy and… I can't wait for everything."

"A movie, interviews and having a house full of seven other people? Sounds great."

"You're going to be busy too. You have a new album coming out, remember?" I reminded her and she smiled cheekily.

"Hey, Marina and May!" Jimmy got our attention and we turned to see him popping a new movie in the DVD player and everyone getting situated on the floor but really it just looked like a giant pile of teenagers.

"We're putting in another movie! We're taking Marina's advice and watching a comedy!" I heard Leaf's muffled voice from the bottom of the pile.

Marina and I both started laughing before joining them in the pile. Can someone say awkward?

* * *

_A couple things to say. First of all, I'm no Hollywood star so don't kill me if this doesn't seem legit. I'm trying my best guys:) On another note, I hope you all had a great thanksgiving and you all had fun eating food and spending time with family. Rest assured you all were travelling safely if you did:) Ah, MY CHALLENGE! Can anyone find my A New Way to Live reference in this chapter? It's in the last section where they're watching a movie. First person who guesses and leaves it in a review gets the next chapter dedicated to them:D Thanks again for the lovely reviews and don't forget to keep on doing it! Sorry this note is so long!_

_PS: for AL readers, it shall be updated very soon!_

_~dorkyreader_


	5. Chapter 5

Hey Lovelies! Long time since I've shown any signs of living, eh? Okay, so this is **VERY IMPORTANT. READ THIS.**

I am putting this story on **HIATUS. **It's not like it'll be extremely long but yes, I am taking a break from it. Reason why? I don't think that many people like this story and are in to it. Compared to my other story, _Anonymous Love_, people don't seem interested in this. Because of that, I'm going to put all my focus on _Anonymous Love _and when that's completed then I will come back to this story. I'm so sorry for the inconvenience and for the people that really like this story! :/

If you ever want to know when I'll be coming back there are three options. First, PM me and ask! I don't bite, I swear! :D Second option, read _Anonymous Love_ so you'll know when it ends, haha ;) Lastly, I'm thinking of making a twitter account just for my FanFiction. If you _want _to follow me on Instagram/Twitter, message me but they are personal accounts so you won't be getting any updates there. So, should I make a Twitter to keep you guys updated? I'm not very popular on here but what the hey? XD

I'm sorry again but people just aren't interested in this story as much as my other one! I **WILL **be completing it eventually though. Don't worry, I won't keep you hanging too long ;)

I love you all and thanks for always supporting me. Mwah! xx See you lovelies later!

PS. I MAY shorten the hiatus if I know people actually are into the story. Thanks guys:)


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